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JOHAN SNYMAN’S NORTH-EASTERN NAMIBIA TRIP REPORT : 29 April to 6 May 2016

WARNING ! Please do not try to emulate this trip. It was not undertaken for recreational purposes and I travelled on my own in a solo vehicle. Under normal circumstances, you will not be able to cover these distances in a day, nor is it advisable to visit the area with only one vehicle. Background As work on my book on North-eastern Namibia is progressing, places where I need to confirm data are emerging. I also intend to use only photographs that I have taken myself of subjects within the boundaries of the area in the manuscript, and this is proving to be a bit of a challenge. This trip was undertaken to address this issue.

Preparations I would be covering a distance of approximately 3500km in the 8 days and as this would be a “working” trip I elected to travel on my own because I would not have time to do the “tourist things” that would be required if I took a passenger, or another vehicle, along. Travelling solo does require a bit of forward planning as you can’t leave home without a back-up plan, pre-arranged back-up services and reliable means of communication. As my fully equipped Landy is for sale, I undertook this trip with my Isuzu LDV. I have completed all the “heavy/difficult” work for the book, so from a vehicle point of view this was not a problem. The Isuzu has no built-in drawer system, aux fuel and water tanks, built-in kitchen, etc, etc, so it was back to basics again …….

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Friday 29 April I travelled along the B1 from Windhoek to Otavi, where I turned off onto the B8 towards Rundu. I camped at Roy’s Camp. Along the way, I also logged the track up Mount Oroam.

Total distance for the day was 556km (527km on tar and 29km on gravel) and my travelling time was 6½ hours. (Moving time and average = 6h09min and 90.4km/h)

Saturday 30 April I made my way along the C44 to the Ju/’Hoansi Living Museum at Grashoek. This Living Museum was featured in the 2016 edition of the Go! Namibia and I dropped off some copies of the magazine as well as photographs of the people. From there I visited the Naye Naye pans, south of Tsumkwe, before making my way to the Sikeretti campsite, where I spent the night. Along the way I picked up the only puncture of the trip. So much for the “Silent Armour” technology used in Goodyear Wrangler tyres. I must say that I was very surprised to see how soft the structure of the tyre was and how easy it was to insert a temporary sealing plug.

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Total distance for the day was 436km (2km on tar and 434km on gravel and sand) and my travelling time was 10½ hours. (Moving time and average = 9h21min and 46.6km/h) Sunday 1 May After a quiet night I made an early start and travelled through the Khaudum National Park and then followed the B8 to Divundu. From there I followed the C48 to the Mahango Game Reserve, and spent the night at the Mahango Safari Lodge.

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Total distance for the day was 311km (100km on tar and 211km on gravel and sand) and my travelling time was 10 hours. (Moving time and average = 8h52min and 35.1km/h) Monday 2 May After another very quiet night I returned to the Magango Game Reserve and then travelled on the C48, B8 and the D3502 the the Living Museum of the Mafwe people. From there I returned to the B8 and travelled to Katima Mulilo where I camped at Caprivi Houseboat Safari Lodge.

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Total distance for the day was 410km (351km on tar and 59km on gravel and sand) and my travelling time was 8 hours. (Moving time and average = 5h43min and 71.72km/h)

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Tuesday 3 May This was to be a rest day, and I spent most of my time doing just that. I went for a sunset cruise on the river that afternoon.

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Wednesday 4 May I travelled mainly on the C49 and B8 to Rundu, where I spent the night at Kaisosi River Lodge. Along the way, I made some short detours to gather some information I needed. I also stopped at the Lizuali and Kwando Traditional Villages and made a lunch stop at the viewpoint at Fort Doppies, overlooking the Kwando River. Near Divundu I passed my (sold) Puma Defender – heading east towards Katima Mulilo.

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Total distance for the day was 663km (579km on tar and 84km on sand and gravel) and my travelling time was 11 hours. (Moving time and average = 8h04min and 71.8km/h) Thursday 5 May I stopped at the Mbunza Living Museum, and once again there was nothing going on there. I spent some time in the swamplands to try and photograph some birds, but there were too many people in the area. People had set up traditional fishing traps all over the floodplains and were harvesting a rich bounty in all shapes and sizes. From there I followed the B8, D2804 and D2512 to the Waterberg Plato Park, where I spent the night.

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Total distance for the day was 469km (315km on tar and 154km on gravel) and my travelling time was 7 hours. (Moving time and average = 6h28min and 72.5km/h) Friday 6 May It was time to head home as I had some packing to do for my next trip – starting on Sunday. I made my way home via the D2512, C22, C42, D3802, D3804, M112, M59, C31 and B1.

Total distance for the day was 494km (143km on tar and 351km on gravel) and my travelling time was 6½ hours. (Moving time and average = 6h01min and 82.1km/h) Conclusion For this trip, I drove a total distance of 3339km in 8 days. Of this, 2017km was on tar and the remaining 1322km on gravel and sand. The average fuel consumption of the Isuzu was 8.91km/l. I had one puncture, but no other problems.

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